The Plaza Premium Lounge network operates over sixty lounges under the Plaza Premium Name worldwide. The Plaza Premium Lounges typically offer a consistent lounge experience with a broad food presentation, even when visiting outside of regular meal hours. Today’s travel took me through the Plaza Premium London Heathrow Lounge on a connecting flight from London Heathrow Terminal Five. How would the Plaza Premium Lounge London Heathrow fare for a connecting traveler ?

---

This post is one chapter on a trip to the South of France and Cinque Terre, Italy. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status and Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan. For information on how this trip was booked, please see our introduction. For parts of the trip, please see this index.

If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter “X” or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.

---

Review: Plaza Premium Lounge – London Heathrow Terminal Five, United Kingdom

I arrived into London Heathrow on a British Airways Club Suite Business Class Vancouver – London flight, and I was connecting onwards to British Airways Club Europe London Heathrow – Nice. While we had access to the British Airways Galleries South Lounge – London Heathrow, I was curious to see how the Plaza Premium London Heathrow Terminal Five lounge would compare.

Plaza Premium operates several lounges in the United Kingdom. You may also be interested in our review of the Plaza Premium London Heathrow Terminal Two and Plaza Premium London Heathrow Terminal Two Arrivals Lounge, that we have previously visited in adjacent terminals.

Locating the Plaza Premium Lounge:

The Plaza Premium Lounge London Heathrow is tucked away in a corner of the main London Heathrow Terminal Five building. It’s location seems to be almost an after thought, since it’s anything from being centrally located.

Leaving the British Airways Galleries South Lounge, I passed through the main retail heaven (or hell) of the London Heathrow Terminal Five concourse. Heading towards the far end of the concourse, I spotted signs for the Plaza Premium Pay-To-Use Lounge.

Heading toward the end of the concourse, it was a hard right turn towards the front reception.

The Plaza Premium Pay-to-Use Lounge isn’t very well marked compared to other London Heathrow features. If you’ve mapped it out in advance of your journey, you shouldn’t have any troubles.

Accessing The Plaza Premium Lounge:

There are several ways to access the Plaza Premium Lounge.

The Plaza Premium Lounge accepts reservations for entry on it’s website. The reservations are split into blocks of time ranging from two, three and six hours. As of the time of writing, the prices was as follows:

• Two Hours = $40.60 GBP or $51.71 USD
• Six Hours. = $67.50 GBP or $86.00 USD

The above pricing includes applicable taxes and fees. While there are no three hour time slots like at other Plaza Premium Lounges, I can’t actually imagine anyone wanting to stay inside the Plaza Premium Lounge for a full six hours. The lounge must be making a little profit over those wanting a longer three or four hour stay.

The Plaza Premium Lounge network also partners with several credit cards to provide access. This includes many credit cards worldwide, which include DragonPass, LoungeKey, LoungeClub, and the Club. You do not need to make an advance reservation while using these systems.

Within North America, the lounge is also part of the American Express Global Lounge Collection, which offers a suite of lounges available for access with it’s premium American Express Platinum Card and American Express Centurion Cards. Access can be granted by presenting one of these cards.

The lounge has recently rejoined Priority Pass. As a result, if you have a Priority Pass membership, you can gain access to the lounge.

I gained access to the Plaza Premium Lounge as a result of my American Express Platinum Card as part of the American Express Global Lounge membership.

There was a substantial line to gain access access today with a line of about ten people deep. Fortunately, the line moved really quickly. I suspect many decided to abandon their plans to access the lounge after learning of how long the wait may have been.

After my digital membership card and boarding pass was validated, I was invited into the lounge as a single travellers without any additional wait.

Inside The Plaza Premium Lounge:

The Plaza Premium Lounge London Heathrow Terminal Five occupies a much smaller space than I would have expected. Despite this, the space that they do have is bright and has pleasant views.

After passing through lounge reception, you’ll head down a long thin hallway that leads into an “L” shaped space.

The first lounge room offers small booth, individual lounge chair, and carrel styled seating. All the seats had great daylight exposure, being close to the glass of the terminal wall. Being right next to the front door, these seats were completely full.

Moving around the “L” shape corner of the lounge, visitors were led into a very long rectangular room that formed the main portion of the lounge space. The width of the space was pretty tiny, and smaller than I would have expected for such a high volume place.

The first feature in the long room was a large bar. On my visit, the lounge was full enough that people were seated at the bar as a result of there being no where else to sit.

Moving through the lounge past the bar, the lounge continued on with a small snack area followed by additional seating. Following a snack area, there was a high counter top communal table, followed by additional high density lounge seating.

The lounge ended shortly after the communal table zone. Looking down the length of the lounge, high backed individual chair spaces filled out the rest of the seating in approximately four rows of chairs.

The lounge seating was particularly high density for this particular location. Much like my experience at the Plaza Premium Lounge at Heathrow Terminal Two, this Terminal Five version was full of people. As a result, I wouldn’t expect a large spacious environment on your visit to this space, but a more compact and urban one, with shared spaces.

Food and Beverage:

The Plaza Premium Lounge networks are normally pretty generous on food. On today’s visit, they had a substantial offering.

I think the Plaza Premium Lounges might improve the way their cuisine is presented, even though they do offer a little bit more food. There are instances when the cuisine appears more cafeteria-styled, than it does elsewhere.

Today’s food presentation was from islands surrounding the rear interior portion of the building. Given the high volume of visitors to the lounge, the area was packed throughout my visit.

On the hot side, there were a variety of options available for visitors. There was penne pasta with tomato sauce, chicken in mushroom sauce with basmati rice, along with potato wedges.

In addition to the hot items, there were a number of salad items. Most of the items were enjoyed by many customers. In a twist, there were a number of bread stations located throughout the lounge. Like my past Plaza Premium Lounge experiences, the food didn’t look all too appetizing with a “well worn” sort of look to it.

In terms of drinks, the lounge featured a number of self service coffee machines. We didn’t see any branded Union Hand Roasted Coffee like at the nearby British Airways Galleries Lounge. However, it’s nice to have the option for something to wake you up.

The lounge also featured a number of water and juice stations, in addition to tinned pop.

Much like many other Plaza Premium Lounges, Plaza Premium offers some complimentary spirits, a complimentary draught beer and a house red and white wine. Additional “top shelf” drinks are chargeable.

The Plaza Premium Lounge met all expectations of what you’d need from an international pay – to – use departures lounge. There was enough to eat food-wise, and there was a reasonable amount of beverages available.

I would end up departing on British Airways Club Europe London Heathrow – Nice shortly after my visit.

My Thoughts on the Plaza Premium Lounge London Heathrow:

Plaza Premium Lounges have a fairly solid footprint in London Heathrow airport. Much like the Plaza Premium Lounge in London Heathrow Terminal Two, the Terminal Five version had a high amount of visitors.

With a high density seating area, the lounge doesn’t offer large relaxing spaces. What it does offer is a place to recharge after your overseas international flight, along with a reasonable amount of food and beverage that can be expected from an international departures lounge.

---

If you’ve visited the Plaza Premium London Heathrow Lounge, did you find the lounge met your needs ?

---